Italy hails "hero" hostage, stands firm on troops

[cb88]

Italy hails "hero" hostage, stands firm on troops


(Adds Berlusconi quote, paragraph seven)



By Crispian Balmer



Excerpt:

ROME, April 15 (Reuters) - An Italian hostage killed in Iraq was hailed on Thursday as a hero who in his last moments told his kidnappers defiantly: "I'm going to show you how an Italian dies."


Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted earlier this week, was shot dead on Wednesday after Italy refused to bow to the kidnappers' demands that it withdraw its troops from Iraq.



Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said a video recording of the killing showed that Quattrocchi was hooded when his kidnappers put a gun to his head.



"When the murderers were pointing a pistol at him, this man tried to take off his hood and shouted: 'Now I'm going to show you how an Italian dies'. And they killed him," Frattini said.



"He died a hero," he added.



Frattini came under attack from some quarters for breaking the news of Quattrocchi's death during a live television chat show on Wednesday night and the distraught families of the remaining three hostages urged talks with the abductors.



After meeting his top ministers to discuss the crisis, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi issued a statement saying the government "would work in all practicable ways for the immediate and unconditional release" of the remaining hostages.



Defence Minister Antonio Martino said Italy would keep its forces in Iraq. "It wouldn't just be vile, it would also damage us if we pulled out with the job half done. We cannot give in," he told reporters.



Mainstream opposition leaders, many of them deeply critical of Berlusconi's unwavering support for U.S. President George W. Bush during the Iraq conflict, also ruled out negotiations.



"The vile blackmail by a band of criminal kidnappers must not be given the dignity of a political response. Italy is and must remain unified and together," said Francesco Rutelli, leader of a centre-left opposition group, the Daisy party.

Full Story: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15497363.htm

[odannyboy]

Good story.


You wonder about nations like Spain and how they must think they are perceived internationally after making plans to cut and run after the Madrid train bombings.

The problem with Europe is that it is so overwhelmingly liberal and has not the resolve to endure the losses in the war on terrorism and see things through to the end.

The problem with this war is we are enlisting the aid of our allies and hopefully not permanently damaging our credibility in the process and hope of enlisting the aid of the U.N., NATO or other European nations if a legitimate reason presented itself to form a coalition and invade a country that posed a real threat.

[cb88]

I think Italy, like Israel, has seen it's own brand of terrorism and recognizes the importance of this war.

You're right, Europe is overwhelmingly liberal and as such are pacivists. Dan, I don't think many of them would have approved of any reaction until it reached the level of Hitlers "empire" in WWII. At that point, they'd be crying for help. We Americans have learned from history and refused to allow it to come to that, realizing at that point you are talking tens of thousands of lives lost in the WOT rather than hundreds of lives.

They may never see what we have stopped. The US is like a "transformational manager", we stick to the issues of what is right, even willing to fall on the sword (so to speak) for the good of the world because we have a vision of what this world can be. Sometimes sticking up for what is right is lonely, it is easier to sit back and let life happen than to be the one making it happen.

[JohnRN]

I hope that the statements made by the "soclialists" in Italy lay rest to fears that some American and British people seem to have about a "socialistic" undermining of the coalition war effort, considering Spain's recent pull out of it's troops, which many have been quick to condemn as some sort of 'socialist policy to undermine peace and democracy in Iraq'

[Woodmonkey]

Originally Posted by John.

I hope that the statements made by the "soclialists" in Italy lay rest to fears that some American and British people seem to have about a "socialistic" undermining of the coalition war effort, considering Spain's recent pull out of it's troops, which many have been quick to condemn as some sort of 'socialist policy to undermine peace and democracy in Iraq'

I guess I missed something John, but I don't think Socialism has anything to do with it...or Capitalism either. There are Capitalists who are against the war too. There are Socialists who support it.

People are quick to slap labels on others: "You're a Socialist, so therefore" or "You're a Capitalist, so therefore" as if that makes everything they say or do into an agenda.

I'm glad that Italy isn't caving into the terrorists. I understand that part of it was the bravery of the hostage who was murdered and a gesture he made. Anybody else hear that?

[sergej]

I strongly disagree with the perception of some members here that claim europe is too liberal or too pacifist to fight war. Like I mentioned in another thread before, old europe doesn`t see the war in iraq as a war against terror or al qaeda. The perception is "generally" that this war in iraq instead takes away the focus from al qaeda and takes important sources away from the real fight against terrorism.

[Woodmonkey]

Originally Posted by sergej

The perception is "generally" that this war in iraq instead takes away the focus from al qaeda and takes important sources away from the real fight against terrorism.

I can understand that point of view, serg, even though I disagree with it.

Geez, sometimes coming in here is like having my family over for dinner with all the differences in opinions. Very interesting too.